Panthers singing the Blues in 7-0 thumping

Thomas yanked after two; team's 0 for 7 on the power play and drops to1-1 on 4-game road trip

October 5, 2013|By Harvey Fialkov, Sun Sentinel

ST. LOUIS — — Well, the Panthers will not go undefeated this season and they certainly won't enjoy the St. Louis Rams-Jacksonville Jaguars game on their day off as much as they had hoped to.

Unable to gain any momentum against the Blues' smothering penalty-kill units or solve long-time net nemesis Jaroslav Halak, the Panthers were thumped 7-0 Saturday night in the Scottrade Center.

Frustration spilled over in a chippy, fight-filled third period that included an overzealous Blues' fan and three Panthers getting tossed via 10-minute misconducts.

While the 1-1 Panthers showed progress on their power-play units, they were 0-for-3 with a man advantage in the opening period and 0-for-7 overall (0-for-11 after two games).

"Our power play was a downer for us tonight,'' said Panthers coach Kevin Dineen. "We were hanging on for dear life and got outplayed in every aspect of the game.

"I'd rather win some puck battles and board battles instead of fighting for pride at the end. …You move forward hang out as a team and get ready for the next one. …

"You balance out the character and effort we showed in game one and the ugliness that was part of tonight.''

The 2-0 Blues, who boasted the second best defense in the NHL last season, have now killed off 28 straight penalties against the Panthers. Florida hasn't notched a power-play goal in St. Louis since March 27, 2003.

After the Panthers thwarted a short two-man advantage, longtime Stars winger Brendan Morrow batted in a rebound of a Derek Roy shot with seven seconds left in the power play at 13:38 for a 1-0 Blues' lead after one. It was Morrow's 250th career goal.

That would be all the help Halak would need, as he made19 saves while improving to 8-1 with a sub-1.80 goals-against-average versus the Panthers, dating back to his days in Montreal.

With the game still tight, former Blues winger Brad Boyes, who enjoyed his best seasons here with 106 of his 168 goals, had two huge scoring opportunites, with the first thwarted by Halak but the second kept out by the left goal-post. Halak robbed Scott Gomez in the third to preserve his 26th career shutout and a franchise-record 17.

Then the Panthers were granted another power play in which they held the puck for nearly the entire two minutes, but too many passes and not enough shots had them still seeking their first PPG of the young season.

Just 28 seconds later, botched clearing attempts by defenseman Erik Gudbranson and Marcel Goc ended up on the stick of 2010 first-rounder Vladimir Tarasenko, who snuck up from behind to slip it past Tim Thomas. Thomas gave up five goals with 23 saves saves in his first loss and hook as a Panther.

"It started to go downhill and snowballed real quick. That's a lesson you have to learn in this league and we didn't do it for quite a long time,'' Thomas said. "I couldn't continue to keep it closer for us to come back. The game got out of hand.''

Jacob Markstrom started the third period and immediately gave up two goals on the first four shots he faced, including a non-screened wrister by Ryan Reaves and a snap-shot by Patrik Berglund to complete the rout.

Anyone for Scott Clemmensen? The Panthers third goalie had his first rehabilitation start in San Antonio Saturday.

The floodgates opened with three more Blues' second-period goals in a span of 3:56, as a turnover by defenseman Tom Gilbert led to point-blank wrister by Jaden Schwartz over Thomas' glove at 15:07. Just 65 seconds later, Chris Stewart roamed behind the Panthers' net before setting up Roy, as the former Sabres star scored his first goal for St. Louis.

With the Panthers desperately cheating up ice, Blues left-wing Alexander Steen broke away but was tripped behind by a diving Gudbranson for a penalty shot that he would convert with a clever deke and backhander over a frustrated Thomas at 19:03.